By Jove, we made it! And after two and a half days of epic road tripping through Alaska, Yukon Territory and British Columbia we feel particularly blessed to have arrived unscathed in the beautiful city of Portland, Oregon.
The Trip: Early Saturday afternoon, we set out walking to the highway to get picked up by this potential Craigslist rideshare, who spoke really fast over the phone and sounded really hippy dippy - a farmer/massage therapist/burner/etc named Alannah. She had just driven to the Arctic Circle, she had fallen in love with a guy on a boat, she was trying to drive straight through to Burning Man... when we met up with her on the side of the road, things got even wackier. She arrived in a beat-up, mud-covered Dodge Dakota pickup truck with a covered back, where she had been living since June with her friendly, 80lb black lab named Kaya. The truck was filled with camping gear, massage pillows, sleeping bags, bags of clothing, boots, sneakers, books, boxes of paperwork, three spare tires, motor oil, handfuls of rhubarb and turnips and other root vegetables, dog food, snow shoes... She said that she intended for us to alternate between driving and napping in the back, so that we "wouldn't have to even turn the ignition off the whole way down". When we were done throwing our packs back there, there was hardly enough room for the dog. "we'll just figure it out later, we'll manifest it.." she kept saying. Me and J were a little iffy about the whole situation, but it was too late to figure something else out, so we took a leap of faith and piled into the teeny cab and rolled off towards the horizon.
Other things about her Dakota: it had been given to her free by some good samaritan a few months back. The driver's side door didn't open. The gas meter didn't work (we'd have to eye ball it based on the odometer) the gear shifter didn't work either, and the breaks and power steering were on their way out. The suspension was blown, so the whole truck would rock back and forth after 50mph and anybody stuck in the back would risk getting sea sick with all that motion. Other than that it was a pretty solid machine!
It was long and hard, driving through all kinds of weather and terrain. Sometimes it was scary- especially at night driving around the mountain bends and nearly hitting bison and elk and moose (almost totaled the car that way). Mostly it was amazing, seeing far away mountain ranges loom in the distance and then driving through and past them, past so many forests and rivers and wide open valleys. We talked and laughed and enjoyed getting to know one another- me and J and this light and colorful girl flying by the seat of our pants. We stopped off in Wrangle/St. Elias National Park, home to the 2nd largest mountain in North America (also home to endless wild blueberry thickets). We stopped at Laird Hot Springs in British Columbia, punctuating our 60 hour drive by soaking in some steamy natural mineral waters. It was my first time in a natural hotspring, so I was especially thrilled. What's nicer than a giant earthy bathtub with hot waterfalls and smooth stones and lush green beds of moss and ferns? Nothing, that's what!
We also saw the northern lights, which were a rare and memorable treat. Late night driving out of rural Alaska, and all of a sudden they just opened up above us from horizon to horizon - these mercurial bands of green, silvery light, weaving in and out of each other in a great swath across the sky. Outside the air was cold and dark and silent, and they shimmered and shape-shifted high up in the ether. The whole experience just knocked me out, it was so other-worldly and insanely beautiful. It was one of those moments where you witness firsthand "the wonder of it all". Definitely something I'll never forget.
We woke up in the back of the parked truck at nine in the morning, barefoot and strung out from driving and no inkling of where we were and no sign of Alannah. Turns out we had arrived in Portland, Oregon! It's as far as she was going, and we parted ways that afternoon- us to go stay with some friends of J's sister, and her to Black Rock Desert, NV in a car that by that time was a pothole away from breaking down. I said a little prayer that she would make it all the way, and that was it. Bye Alannah and Kaya! Thanks for the wild ride!
2:42PM
Portland, Oregon
The Trip: Early Saturday afternoon, we set out walking to the highway to get picked up by this potential Craigslist rideshare, who spoke really fast over the phone and sounded really hippy dippy - a farmer/massage therapist/burner/etc named Alannah. She had just driven to the Arctic Circle, she had fallen in love with a guy on a boat, she was trying to drive straight through to Burning Man... when we met up with her on the side of the road, things got even wackier. She arrived in a beat-up, mud-covered Dodge Dakota pickup truck with a covered back, where she had been living since June with her friendly, 80lb black lab named Kaya. The truck was filled with camping gear, massage pillows, sleeping bags, bags of clothing, boots, sneakers, books, boxes of paperwork, three spare tires, motor oil, handfuls of rhubarb and turnips and other root vegetables, dog food, snow shoes... She said that she intended for us to alternate between driving and napping in the back, so that we "wouldn't have to even turn the ignition off the whole way down". When we were done throwing our packs back there, there was hardly enough room for the dog. "we'll just figure it out later, we'll manifest it.." she kept saying. Me and J were a little iffy about the whole situation, but it was too late to figure something else out, so we took a leap of faith and piled into the teeny cab and rolled off towards the horizon.
Other things about her Dakota: it had been given to her free by some good samaritan a few months back. The driver's side door didn't open. The gas meter didn't work (we'd have to eye ball it based on the odometer) the gear shifter didn't work either, and the breaks and power steering were on their way out. The suspension was blown, so the whole truck would rock back and forth after 50mph and anybody stuck in the back would risk getting sea sick with all that motion. Other than that it was a pretty solid machine!
It was long and hard, driving through all kinds of weather and terrain. Sometimes it was scary- especially at night driving around the mountain bends and nearly hitting bison and elk and moose (almost totaled the car that way). Mostly it was amazing, seeing far away mountain ranges loom in the distance and then driving through and past them, past so many forests and rivers and wide open valleys. We talked and laughed and enjoyed getting to know one another- me and J and this light and colorful girl flying by the seat of our pants. We stopped off in Wrangle/St. Elias National Park, home to the 2nd largest mountain in North America (also home to endless wild blueberry thickets). We stopped at Laird Hot Springs in British Columbia, punctuating our 60 hour drive by soaking in some steamy natural mineral waters. It was my first time in a natural hotspring, so I was especially thrilled. What's nicer than a giant earthy bathtub with hot waterfalls and smooth stones and lush green beds of moss and ferns? Nothing, that's what!
We also saw the northern lights, which were a rare and memorable treat. Late night driving out of rural Alaska, and all of a sudden they just opened up above us from horizon to horizon - these mercurial bands of green, silvery light, weaving in and out of each other in a great swath across the sky. Outside the air was cold and dark and silent, and they shimmered and shape-shifted high up in the ether. The whole experience just knocked me out, it was so other-worldly and insanely beautiful. It was one of those moments where you witness firsthand "the wonder of it all". Definitely something I'll never forget.
We woke up in the back of the parked truck at nine in the morning, barefoot and strung out from driving and no inkling of where we were and no sign of Alannah. Turns out we had arrived in Portland, Oregon! It's as far as she was going, and we parted ways that afternoon- us to go stay with some friends of J's sister, and her to Black Rock Desert, NV in a car that by that time was a pothole away from breaking down. I said a little prayer that she would make it all the way, and that was it. Bye Alannah and Kaya! Thanks for the wild ride!
2:42PM
Portland, Oregon
J
Wrangle
G
Laird Hotsprings with Alannah
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